Advocate General will file fact-based reply in HC on stampede case: G Parameshwara

Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said the Advocate General (AG) will file a detailed response addressing the questions raised by the High Court in connection with the June 4 stampede here that killed 11 people.

The Minister's statement came after the High Court posted to June 12 the next hearing into a petition initiated by it in connection with the tragedy.

The court ordered Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty to file a reply in a sealed cover.

"Answers have to be given to the questions asked by the court, the Advocate General will prepare and give. He will say what has to be said on behalf of the government. All those things have been discussed. The Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary and Advocate General have discussed. Factuals will be told to the court," Parameshwara told reporters here.

Asked whether the investigation report will be submitted, he said, "it has to come to the government first. After the government gets it it can be informed to the court. Until that nothing can be said." Last week, the High Court had directed the state government to submit detailed responses to nine critical questions.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice C M Joshi posed certain queries-- Who authorised the RCB victory celebration event? When and how was the decision made? Whether the organisers had obtained the necessary permissions? among others-- on last Thursday while hearing a suo motu writ petition initiated by the court in the wake of the tragedy.

The stampede occurred on June 4 evening in front of the Chinnaswamy stadium here, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations. Eleven people died and 56 were injured in the incident.

Noting that the Congress high command has summoned the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, the Home Minister said the agenda of the meeting is not known.

Asked whether a cabinet reshuffle was on cards, he said, "How do I get to know? I don't want to speculate. I don't know. If I'm called I will go. They have not called anyone else other than the CM and Shivakumar who is also the state Congress President." Replying to a question on Hindutva activist Suhas Shetty murder case being handed over to NIA probe, Parameshwara said, the Union Home Ministry has certain powers and under that it ordered the transfer of the case, making it an inevitability for the state.

Asked on what grounds the case was handed over to NIA, he said, "they (union Home Ministry) have not given any explanation, they have quoted certain sections." To a question whether pressure from the state BJP has influenced the decision, the Minister said, "I don't know about it, nothing of that sort has been mentioned."

Responding to a question about a murder case being handed over to the NIA, he said, "I don't know what the reasoning is, it is not mentioned in the letter. Only sections have been quoted and they have said the case should be handed over to the NIA...we have very little choice."